Join +750K new investors every month who copy stock picks from billionaire's portfoliosSign Up Free

UPDATE 2-Taiwan ruling party says China 'enemy of democracy' after meddling allegations

Published 25/11/2019, 07:46 pm
© Reuters.  UPDATE 2-Taiwan ruling party says China 'enemy of democracy' after meddling allegations
PGR
-
1217
-

* Taiwan election campaign rocked by China meddling accusations

* Taiwan investigating two people from company named in report

* Chinese state-backed paper rubbishes man's claims (Adds Taiwan president comment, paragraph 6, Taiwan investigating two company directors, paragraph 13)

By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's ruling party denounced China as an "enemy of democracy" on Monday following fresh claims of Chinese interference in the island's politics ahead of presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11.

The allegations, reported by Australian media, were made by a Chinese asylum seeker in Australia who said he was a Chinese spy. China, which claims Taiwan as its sacred territory, to be brought under Beijing's control by force if necessary, has branded the asylum seeker a fraud. Chinese man, Wang Liqiang, also provided details of Chinese efforts to infiltrate universities and media in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, which has been rocked by months of anti-government protests.

Cho Jung-tai, chairman of Tsai's Democratic Progressive (NYSE:PGR) Party, which favours Taiwan's formal independence, said there needed to be further investigations, noting that a lot of fake news came from China.

"The enemy of democracy is China. At present Taiwan's most ambitious opponent, competitor, is also China," Cho told a news conference in Taipei.

Taiwan's presidential office cited Tsai as saying on Monday that the allegations were being probed, and that people should not reach conclusions before a complete investigation was done.

Among several allegations levelled, the would-be defector said he had helped guide positive media attention toward certain Taiwanese politicians, including President Tsai's main opponent, Han Kuo-yu of the China-friendly Kuomintang party.

The Kuomintang's Han said he would drop out of the election if he has taken any money from the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaking at a separate news conference, Kuomintang's spokeswoman Wang Hong-wei said the issue was one of "blundering Communist espionage" that should be investigated immediately, and accused the government of seeking to use the matter to "manipulate elections".

DOUBTS

China's state-backed Global Times tabloid said in a Monday opinion piece that Wang Liqiang sounded like an "opportunistic liar, probably a swindler".

Three Taipei-based diplomatic and security sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters they also doubted whether Wang was who he claimed to be, though his allegations were plausible.

"Our assessment is he is most likely not who is says he is," said one of the sources.

Separately, Taiwan is investigating two directors of a Hong Kong-listed company which was named in the Australian reports as being involved in Communist Party infiltration of Hong Kong universities and media, the Justice Ministry's Investigation Bureau said on Monday, without giving details.

Wang said he was part of an intelligence operation working within Hong Kong-listed China Innovation Investment Limited 1217.HK to infiltrate Hong Kong universities and media with pro-Communist Party operatives to counter the territory's democracy movement.

In a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange earlier on Monday, the company said the reports were "all fictitious and forged" and that Wang had never worked there.

The company said that it had received notification from Executive Director Xiang Xin and alternate Director Kung Ching that they had been about to leave Taipei Taoyuan Airport when Taiwanese investigators requested their cooperation in an "investigation on the matter of the news reports".

"In fact, Mr. Xiang and Mrs. Kung knew nothing about the issues exposed in the news reports," the statement said. It said both directors had engaged Taiwan lawyers to provide assistance.

It was not immediately clear who their lawyers were.

The company declined to provide further details beyond what was in the statement.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.